


The Unsleeping City: But What If They Were Dragons

by multilefaiye



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Flight Rising
Genre: (very briefly though it's just Pete's dad), Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Drug Use, Gen, Implied/Referenced Transphobia, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, They're Dragons Now Baby, y'all ever just write something completely impulsively
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22121203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multilefaiye/pseuds/multilefaiye
Summary: Unsleeping City AU where everything's the same (well, mostly the same, at least) but it takes place in the universe of Flight Rising and they're all dragons.
Kudos: 3





	The Unsleeping City: But What If They Were Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, gang! So I've recently gotten into The Unsleeping City and I am... in love with it... it's such a good series and I love it with my whole heart. And because this is how I pay tribute to what I love, I decided to rewrite the first episode as if it took place in the Flight Rising universe.
> 
> Not sure if I wanna do the whole series so don't hold me to that, but I'm gonna at least do every character's introduction, similarly to what I did with the DBH fic I posted a little while ago.
> 
> (Also, this doesn't mean Wasted is on hiatus or being abandoned, don't worry! Very much still working on that, I just wanted something else to work on too so I don't burn myself out too much on one thing.)
> 
> Thank you for reading <3

In a dingy, poorly-lit cave deep in the Highland Scrub, a mottled mirror named Pete "the Plug" Conlan sat with his wings folded and his tail coiled loosely around himself, waiting for Lugash to come in with his test results. He wore a jaunty white cowboy hat, had a medical bracelet around his wrist, and had a bag lying next to him, half-open and filled to the brim with various items.

Pete knew he was lucky to find Lugash if he was honest--not many healers in the Shifting Expanse were willing to work for such little payment, and Pete didn’t exactly have the treasure to spare for a more reputable one. Lugash was  _ perfect _ \--just reputable enough that Pete knew he wouldn’t leave with more metal in him than he came in with, but cheap enough that he wouldn’t have to empty his limited coffer just to cure a minor illness.

While he waited, he read and re-read the last message he’d sent to his--well,  _ former _ mate now, he supposed, Priya. She’d sent it back without comment or reply, and though he knew he shouldn’t, he found himself reading over it, again and again, trying to see what he’d done  _ wrong _ . Was he not even worth a reply? Sure, he’d said a  _ lot _ in his letter, perhaps some things he shouldn’t have, but he was high and emotional so  _ really it shouldn’t be counted against him _ . Besides, it wasn’t like he was trying to force her to get back together with him, he just… wanted to know why she left.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by Lugash walking in. Lugash was a thick, burly bogsneak with a pair of comically thick glasses perched on his muzzle and tattoos inked across his grey scales. All in all, Lugash was an intimidating dragon, but Pete had never felt afraid of him.

Lugash was holding one of those fancy datapads as he walked in, something Pete couldn’t afford in his wildest dreams. It was flashing a series of numbers and percentages that he couldn’t quite read at his angle, but based on the frown on Lugash’s face it couldn’t be anything good. Shit.

“Alright, Peter,” he said in a thick, accented voice, “I have your test results here.” He glanced up at Pete. “How are you doing, Peter?”

“I’m doing great, man,” Pete replied with a forced smile, setting down the letter and trying his best to put it out of his mind.

“Well, your test results say differently.”  _ Fuck _ . Pete made a sound in the back of his throat somewhere between a whine and a groan and Lugash sighed. “Alright, I guess we can start with the small stuff.” He glanced down at the pad. “Your vitamin levels are, ah, not great. What have you been eating recently?”

“I found out…” Pete began hesitantly. “If you heat up cheese on a plate over a fire, you can peel it off and it’s like a crispy cracker.”

“Peter, you should not just be eating cheese,” Lugash told him. “You should--you know, you can go to the corner store, there’s food there for cheap.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Pete rubbed his face with a paw, trying to rub the tiredness from his eyes. “I guess I could eat, like, a meat cake or something.” Lugash huffed a sigh and glanced at the pad again, clearly trying to find something good to talk about. After a moment, he found it.

“Ah, well, good news as well,” he said, offering Pete a warm smile. “It looks like you are totally healed from the gender reassignment surgery.” Pete smiled back at him and nodded. “Congratulations, Peter.”

“Yeah,” Pete said, “thanks. I’m…” He swallowed, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes as he thought of Priya, of how happy she’d been for him when he first had his surgery, and then she  _ left _ while he was healing--“I’m ready to-- _ fuck _ .” His voice came out strangled and, before he knew it, tears were rolling down his scaly cheeks.

“Oh, boy,” Lugash sighed. “It’s okay, Peter.” He lifted a forelimb and placed it around Pete’s shoulders, drawing the smaller dragon into a warm hug. That seemed to be the trigger for Pete, and soon he was sobbing into Lugash’s shoulders. Thankfully, Lugash didn’t seem to mind too much.

“Peter,” Lugash said softly, “it’s okay! Tell Dr. Lugash what happened.”

“It’s… it’s fine.” Pete pulled away from Lugash, wiping his face to try and clear away the tears. Lugash sighed again.

“It’s clearly not fine,” he said. “What happened?”

“I’m just…” Pete reached into his bag and pulled out a mushroom, the hallucinogenic kind that helped calm his nerves and keep him comfortably numb from the world. “I’m just happy to be alive.”

Lugash nodded knowingly and sat down in front of Pete. “Enemy gang find out where you live and now you have to move?” he asked.

“What? No, it’s nothing like that.” Pete popped the mushroom into his mouth. Lugash’s eyes narrowed and he lashed his tail.

“What did you just put in your mouth?” he said. Pete mumbled, ‘A vegetable!’ Lugash shook his head. “No, give me-” He reached into Pete’s mouth and plucked out the mushroom, ignoring the indignant squawk the action received. Lugash held up the offending item and stared Pete down.

“Peter, why are you taking hallucinogenic drugs?” he demanded. “You are  _ on _ antipsychotic medication!"

"Yeah, so it's completely safe for me to take them!" Pete insisted. "They cancel each other out."

"That is not how that works, Peter." Lugash sounded like he was having a hard time reigning in his irritation. He took a deep breath and asked, "Peter, when was the last time you slept?"

"I haven't…  _ really _ been sleeping," Pete confessed. Lugash's eyes softened and he tapped something on the datapad.

"Peter, I'm going to run through a checklist with you." Pete nodded. "You haven't been sleeping." Nod. "You are actively taking recreational drugs." Another nod. "You are on antipsychotic medication." Nod. "You are taking hormone treatments." Yet another nod. Lugash set the pad down. "This is what we in the medical profession call 'a lot going on.' I don’t think that is good for you.

"Peter--and I can't believe I'm saying this--you need to find a way to get in touch with yourself, because you are trying to self-medicate for a situation that medication maybe cannot treat." Lugash took a deep breath and set the datapad down. “Maybe a therapi- PETER!” Pete popped another mushroom into his mouth, quickly swallowing it before Lugash could snatch it away from him.

“What? It’s  _ fine _ .”

“It is  _ not _ fine--you are proving my point, Peter!” Lugash rubbed his temples with his claws and sighed. “Alright, I am going to get a stomach pump ready, because you should not process those mushrooms.”

“Thank you,” Pete murmured, unwilling to look Lugash in the eye. The bogsneak muttered something under his breath as he left the room, taking the datapad with him. Once again, Pete was alone.

Pete sighed and settled down to make himself comfortable, but strangely he couldn’t quite get there. There was a dripping sound in the cave that wasn’t present there before. He looked around to find a small puddle in the corner of the cave, water dripping into it from a leak in the ceiling of the lair. Except… no, that wasn’t right. The water wasn’t dripping down  _ into _ the puddle, it was dripping  _ up from _ it.

He watched the water dripping up towards the ceiling with a confused expression on his face, trying to figure out if this was an effect of the mushrooms or if he’d forgotten to take his antipsychotics that day. He was pretty sure he had, but his memory wasn't always the best so maybe--

Before he could continue with that train of thought, a face appeared in the water. It was a nocturne, smiling at him with shiny white teeth and bright, sparkling eyes. Pete stared at the face as it began to speak.

“Hey, Pete!” it said. “How’s it going? I’m real!”

“It’s… going,” Pete said hesitantly. Maybe it was the mushrooms, but he felt like he could be honest with this face. “You know, I miss her. And I told myself I wasn’t gonna try and talk to her again but I found her address again and I sent her a letter this morning and I haven’t heard back-”

“Okay!” the face said, completely ignoring Pete’s words. “You know, Pete, everything’s about to change for you.” It grinned ever wider, showing more teeth than a dragon should  _ have _ .

“Okay, but, like, do you think she’s  _ read _ my letter?” Pete asked. “Or should I send another on-”

Before Pete could finish, Lugash walked back in and the face disappeared. Pete stared at the puddle aghast, eyes wide.

“Where’d you go?” he asked the water. Lugash paused, looked at where Pete was looking, and sighed.

“Okay, this is not great,” said Lugash. He took a moment to consider what he wanted to say next, leveling Pete with a serious look. “Look, Peter, I am a little out of my depth here. What I usually do here is pull arrows out of gangsters and stitch up gashes from gang fights.”

“Well, ya’ kinda did that with me!” Pete said. “I  _ kinda _ got shot.” He gestured vaguely to between his hind legs. “Y’know. I shot my-”

“ _ Okay _ , Peter.” Lugash sighed again, but he was smiling now. “I am glad the surgery went so well, though; as you know, it was my first time performing such a procedure.”

“No, you did great!” Pete agreed. “I don’t feel like you left any metal in there that shouldn’t be there. It’s a little lumpy on one side, though, but I’m sure that’s fine.”

Lugash chuckled and smiled, though his smile was soon replaced with a concerned frown. “I am worried about you, Peter,” he said. “You should go home and get some rest, go  _ heal _ .”

“Alright, alright, I will,” Pete said, figuring he probably should obey his doctor. “I’ll go sleep.”

“Good.” Lugash nodded. He then flicked his fins thoughtfully. “Today is a big day for you, yes? You should really get some rest before SantaCon tonight.”

Ah, fuck, Pete had almost forgotten. “Yeah, you’re right,” he groaned, already dreading the night’s activities. “They’re gonna want a  _ lot _ of cocaine.”

Lugash snorted and laughed, then clapped his forepaws together. “Alright, Peter,” he said, “I have to go now. One of my other clients has broken his wings and it seems I must make a house call. I’ll be seeing you. Be safe, Peter.”

“I’ll see you, doctor,” Pete said.

The walk home to his shitty little cave in the Carrion Canyon wasn’t that long ,but it was just long enough for Pete to start noticing that things were a little…  _ off _ with the Shifting Expanse tonight. He couldn’t quite put a claw on it, but there was a strange static in the air that had him looking over his shoulder and walking a little faster than usual. Static in the air was normal enough, considering this  _ was _ the domain of the Stormcatcher, but this was somehow more intense than normal, hotter in a way. All in all, it was enough to have him on edge and uneasy as he made his way home.

When he arrived to find his landlady, a stout old snapper with a round face and sharp eyes named Marta, throwing his things out into the dirt, that feeling of unease only intensified. He quickly made his way over, dread clawing at his belly.

“What’s going on?” he asked. She turned on him, eyes blazing as she held up a small black baggie.

“I’m throwing you out!” she snapped. “I’ve had enough of you! I found proof! I know what this is--you deal drugs out of the cave!”

“What?” Pete stammered. “N-No! That’s not what that is!”

“You deal drugs!” Marta insisted. “You are a drug dealer!”

“I’m not!” Pete said. “I work at the school, like I told you!”

“What do you do? You wear that silly hat--what could they possibly have hired you for?”

“I-” Needing to calm his nerves, Pete quickly snatched a mushroom from his bag and popped it into his mouth. Unfortunately, Marta saw.

“You are doing drugs right  _ now _ !” she cried. “You are a bad influence on Yagdash!” She gestured to the dragon standing next to her, a younger snapper with thick eyebrows and a ratty old coat.

“Yagdash, my man!” Pete said, trying his best to salvage the situation. “Come on, I work at the school--you know that, right?” Yagdash wrinkled his nose.

“I thought you were a drug dealer,” said Yagdash.

“ _ NO! _ The point is how  _ not _ a drug dealer I am!”

“You were supposed to sell me drugs later.”

“Are you listening to this, Marta!?” Pete gestured helplessly to Yagdash. “He’s asking me for drugs! Are you not mad at him!?”

“My sweet grandson Yagdash?” Marta gave the younger dragon a nuzzle. “Oh, he would never! He would never do this! You have corrupted him!”

“I haven’t!” Pete was desperate now. “Come on, man!”

“Your father is here,” Marta told him coldly. “He has come to help you collect your things and get  _ out _ .”

Pete’s heart dropped into his stomach and he felt his body go cold. “What.” How in the fuck was he here? Pete hadn’t seen his father in six years, and if he’d had it his way he’d never see the fucking bastard again. 

Right on cue, Pete’s father, an aging mirror named Mitch, stepped out of the cave, holding a box of  _ Pete’s things _ . He had a resigned look on his face and a limp in his step as he moved, and when his eyes fell on Pete the mottled mirror felt a flash of white-hot  _ anger _ .

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” Pete muttered. A little louder, he said irritably, “Mitch! The fuck are you doing here?”

Mitch sighed in frustration. “So you’re calling me Mitch now?” He began to walk away with the box he was carrying, and Pete realized that this was a box of  _ important _ things he desperately needed.

“Hey, give that back!” he said, following after his father. “That’s not yours, dickhead!”

“We had a hard time finding you, y’know,” Mitch said, ignoring Pete’s angry words. “Eventually, we had to pay a private detective to track you down.”

“No way in hell,” Pete spat. “I’m too good! No one can find me, I don’t leave a trail!” Mitch huffed a sigh and turned around, not really making eye contact with Pete. It was clear he was uncomfortable, and a vicious part of Pete reveled in that.  _ Good _ , he thought.  _ What the fucker deserves. _

“We knew you had to be out here,” said Mitch. “You just--left the Tangled Wood, dropped out of school…” He took a deep breath and sighed, but he  _ still wasn’t looking Pete in the eye _ . “We want you to come home.”

“No!” Pete said, appalled at even the  _ idea _ of going back to that shithole.

“What’s so great about this place?” Mitch demanded. “I--there’s nothing good here! I heard you’ve been doing drugs, and this place is full of bums and it’s filthy--”

“I’m not gonna come back,” Pete said, taking a step away from Mitch. “I’m not going back to some shitty farm where I’m the only trans dragon for miles around.” That hit a chord with Mitch, who winced and shifted his feet, visibly uncomfortable.

“That’s!” He shook his head. “I-I don’t wanna talk about that. We are not talking about that.”

“Why do you always do this?” Pete asked. “Every time I mention it, you act like that.” Mitch huffed a sigh and lifted his head, finally looking Pete in the eyes.

“It’s not a fucking conversation,” Mitch said lowly.

Pete’s stomach sank as he felt a strange bubbling sensation deep in his gut, anger rising to the surface more intensely than it ever had before when he was interacting with his shitbag of a father. He felt almost weightless, like he were flying, but his wings were closed tightly at his side so  _ that _ didn’t make any sense, so  _ what _ \--

Mitch opened his mouth to speak, and Pete knew exactly what the old fucker was about to say. Pete’s deadname. The one he’d left behind long ago when he left the Tangled Wood to come live in the Shifting Expanse.

Instead, however, bubbles began to fly out of Mitch’s mouth, so many that the older mirror couldn’t speak around them. Mitch’s eyes widened and he made a strange gurgling sound as more and more bubbles rose out of his mouth. Soon he was surrounded by a white cloud of bubbles of all shapes and sizes, enough that they actually began to lift him off the ground. Pete stared in astonishment as his father began to float away, wondering just  _ what the fuck was in those mushrooms _ .

Despite himself, Pete laughed as he watched his father float off into the sky and out of sight. This definitely had to be a hallucination, but at least it was a funny one. And, since Mitch wasn’t speaking to him anymore, the shitbag had to have left. Nice.

Deciding not to question it, Pete bent down and picked up the box, turning to walk back into the cave. Hopefully Marta would be willing to let him back in if he proved to her that he was  _ not _ a drug dealer.

Strangely enough, Pete was feeling  _ incredible _ \--better than he’d felt in years, on drugs or off of them. It felt like he was walking on air, like everything was going right for him for once and things were going his way.

This feeling was so powerful, he didn’t even notice when he bumped into someone on the way back to the lair and they said, “‘Ey, watch it, asshole!” He looked around in confusion for the source of the voice, as he hadn’t seen any other dragons around, and his eyes eventually fell on… a trash receptacle just outside the cave.

What.

“What’s your fuckin’ problem, standing right here by the entrance?” the trash receptacle spat at him as he stared at it in confusion and surprise. “What are you, some kinda piece of shit?”

“Oh, my gods, I am not high enough for this.” Pete reached into his bag for another mushroom, only to find that he was out of them.  _ Fuck _ . He’d have to talk to 53\/3N and see if he could get some more the next time they met up.

The other trash receptacles chimed in, then. One of them asked, “What, is this guy fuckin’ bothering you, dude?”

“I dunno! You tryna’ start some fuckin’ trouble?” The first trash receptacle glared up at Pete with--oh, gods, it had little eyeballs on the top of its lid. “If we weren’t already outside, I’d ask if you wanna go outside!”

“Uh, no, man,” Pete said, “you’re just a trash can-”

“OH, JUST A TRASH CAN, HUH?” the trash receptacle spat at him. “YOU’RE A REAL PIECE OF SHIT.”

“YOU’RE JUST A TRASH CAN!” Pete shouted at it.

“KIDS LIKE YOU MOVE INTO THE FUCKIN’ NEIGHBORHOOD, SELL DRUGS, MAKE CRIME HAPPEN… YOU’RE A REAL PIECE OF SHIT, BUDDY.”

Not knowing what else to do, Pete turned and fled, dropping the box he was carrying as he went. The trash receptacles shouted after him as he ran, insults and biting words spewing from their… lips? Lids? Whatever.

Pete ran along the canyon in the dark, his eyes wide and frantic. The good feeling he’d had a moment before was completely gone now, replaced with a bone-chilling  _ terror _ he couldn’t quite explain. He had to get away--from what, he wasn’t quite sure, but he knew he had to escape or something bad would happen.

As he was running, the ground beneath his feet began to grow damper, melted remains from the previous night’s snowfall that splashed and froze his feet with each step. He didn’t stop, though, as he had to keep running. He had to escape.

Eventually, though, Pete noticed something that made him pause: while everything else was reflected in the puddles beneath him, he was not.

He had no reflection.

Right when this realization hit him, Pete stumbled and tripped, landing face-first in a puddle. However, instead of face-planting and coming to a stop, Pete fell  _ through _ the puddle and to the other side. Whatever the other side  _ was _ , that is.

Pete was standing in the Carrion Canyon, but it was somehow… different. All the colors were gone, and it seemed the mountains and rocks around him were made of black glass, shimmering in the light from the moon above. There were endless stars in the sky, so many that it felt like the middle of a sunny day rather than the dead of night. Snow laid on the ground in clumps, with snowflakes rising up from the clumps and into the starry sky above.

The moon above, full and round, turned to look at Pete, then, and he startled when he realized that it had a face. The face of a beautiful dragoness stared down at him, a surprised expression on her face. She chuckled and smiled at him, showing rows upon rows of sharp, tiny teeth.

“Holy shit,” she said, “this is fucking crazy.”

“I’ll say,” Pete agreed. The moon chuckled again and her smile grew.

“Wanna take a look around?” she asked.

Before Pete could answer, a moonbeam came crashing down to the ground at his feet. He was raised up onto it and into the sky, and he saw an endless dreamscape around him. Pete could see the entirety of the Shifting Expanse from here, shimmering black glass in the light of the moon. It was breathtaking and beautiful, and though Pete wasn’t one for heights he found he was completely calm here.

A glittering unicorn rushed past him, running through the skies as easily as though they were flying. They turned to face him as they ran past, and they grinned when they noticed him.

“Oh, my gods!” they said. “What are  _ you _ doing here?” It wasn’t said in the usual tone people used when they asked Pete that question. Against all odds, it really seemed like this unicorn was  _ happy _ to see him. What.

“Sugar, are you new to this place?” the unicorn asked. Pete nodded and the unicorn laughed. “Oh, something tells me you’re real as hell! This is  _ something _ else, I am lovin’ this!” The unicorn ran past him and Pete quickly slapped his paws against his face, desperately trying to wake up.

It didn’t work. When he opened his eyes again, he was still in the dreamscape--not only that, but he was falling from the moonbeam and through empty space. As he fell, a winged creature with the body of an ape and the face of a wide-eyed owl flew around him, chirping in delight.

“He’s back!” they cheered. “He’s back, he’s back!” The creature grabbed Pete’s face and kissed both of his cheeks. “I’m so happy you’re here!” Before Pete could ask them what the  _ fuck _ they were talking about, they flew away, and Pete hit the ground.

The ground beneath him was bouncy and cloudlike, easily absorbing the shock of his fall. He bounced once or twice before he settled on the cloud, looking around curiously. At his feet was a tiny pocketmouse, a slice of pizza strapped to his back. He looked up at him with surprise.

“Holy shit,” he said. “You’re here. That’s incredible!”

Not sure what else to say, Pete said a hesitant, “... Thank you.”

“For sure!” the pocketmouse chirped cheerfully.

“Where am I?” Pete asked the pocketmouse. The pocketmouse shrugged, smirking at him playfully.

“Where do you wanna be?” the pocketmouse asked.

_ Okay _ , Pete thought.  _ Those mushrooms had to be laced with something else. There’s no way this is all really happening. _ The thought comforted him somewhat, but… he didn’t  _ feel _ high enough to be having a trip like this, so what the fuck was going on?

Pete thought briefly of his father, wondering if maybe what had happened  _ there _ was a result of the mushrooms as well. He was still a bit angry and upset after the conversation he’d had with the older mirror, so maybe his emotions were just manifesting in… the weirdest fucking way possible.

As soon as he thought of Mitch, Pete saw in the distance the old mirror floating away in the cloud of bubbles. Suddenly, Pete dropped through the cloud and into inky blackness. The stars were gone, the moon was gone, and even the little pizza rat was gone. All he could see was darkness.

Voices surrounded him, whispering in his ears.

“He’s gone,” they said. “He’s gone, we have him now, you never have to worry about him again.”

“We can make things that are unreal real and things that are real unreal,” another voice told him.

“What?” Pete said eloquently. “What’s going on?”

“Whatever you want,” the voices answered him. “Do you want this power?”

Pete’s medical bracelet began to glow, a single light in the darkness, and a smiley face appeared on the bracelet. It was throbbing and glowing bright, like a button Pete could press. He stared at the button for a moment, wondering what would happen if he pressed it.

_ Eh… fuck it _ , he thought. Pete slammed a paw down on the button, and immediately the glowing stopped and he was alone in the blackness again. In the distance, he heard a colossal rendering as though something  _ massive _ were breaking into pieces, and the darkness above him split open to reveal the stars above. Pete could  _ feel _ screams of joy all around him as spirits began to escape from whatever realm this was.

Pete began to fall into deeper darkness, and he heard a loud groaning in his ears. A single point of golden light appeared in the darkness in front of him. At this point, Pete was soaked in sweat and his heart was pounding in his chest.

"Start spreading the news," a new voice, deep and booming, groaned in his ears."I'm leaving today. I want to…"

The golden light grew until it was a burning rectangle floating before Pete in the darkness. He knew it was just a hallucination, it had to be, but it felt so  _ real _ . Pete could feel it singing his clammy skin and burning his eyes to the point of tears.

“I want to…” the voice continued, voice dripping with malevolence, “ _ be _ a part of it.”

Once again, Pete felt himself dropping through the darkness into deeper depths, the light from the burning rectangle above completely disappearing in only an instant. After a few moments, he came to a stop in front of a face, the face of a grey imperial dragon child with pure black eyes and a black mane. Pitch-black tears rolled down the dragon’s cheeks as they stared Pete down, an almost regretful expression on their face.

“It’s happening,” the imperial whispered. “I’m so sorry. Heed the words of Lazarus before it’s too late.”

And with that, everything disappeared and Pete woke in the Carrion Canyon, facedown in a puddle. He was covered in sweat and grime and filth, and as he lifted his head he felt his body was  _ throbbing _ with pain. Fucking  _ ow _ .

Pete groaned and lifted his head to see that he was surrounded by several dragons all watching him with hungry intent. They were dressed in Santa Claus outfits, down to the furry hats resting on their heads. Ah, fuck. These were SantaCon attendees.

“Hey,” Pete said, slowly getting to his feet. “Sorry I’m late, I just-”

Before he could finish his sentence, one of the dragons lunged for him and bit down on his head hard enough to bleed.


End file.
